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materialist from conviction in all matters as to which
he has any knowledge. He cannot with calmness hear
even a lady submit to him for consideration personal
immortality as ever so weak a possibility with which
imagination might amuse itself. To the question why
he has preferred the ballet-dancer whom he keeps in
preference to any of the other actresses, he answers:
“She is a bit more tidy than the others,” and it seems
almost to be the moving cause, for in her regard for him
he neither believes nor can believe.
But, in spite of this candid materialism, openly
exposed, this man is far from being an out-and-out
materialist. He would not be a typical Russian if he wholly
lacked an ideal element. And he has it. Tchernuishevski’s
old book, “What is to be Done?” (“A Vital Question”[1])
is his Bible. Its rebellious propositions and contents
are to him the truth in regard to the traditions of
the old society. He demands, not aloud but in his quiet
thoughts, a reform in the relations of the sexes, would
have that freedom introduced which is proper for a man
of age, who has left the official religion and the official
morals equally far, far in the rear, and there, at this
point of his spiritual life, is a nook where the social
Utopia sprouts and blossoms in shade and twilight.
Next, the following type is more characteristic: he is
also a prince, but probably of Tatar descent; the name
indicates this, but the physiognomy is entirely European.
He is very fine-looking, very elegant, with eyes which,
in spite of his being almost fifty, shine like those of a
youth, or rather like those of a magnetizer. He is
unusually gifted, possessing at once great artistic, linguistic,
and oratorical powers.
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